Glacier Park closes in on annual visitor record

Glacier National Park is still on pace for a record year for visitation, recording a 33 percent increase in visitors in October over the same month last year.

During October, Glacier recorded 66,155 visitors, compared to 49,525 in October 2009.

Through the first 10 months of Glacier’s centennial year, 2,202,479 people entered the park, compared to 2,004,919 during the same period last year.

That represents a 9.9 percent increase, according to the National Park Service Public Use Statistics Office.

The busiest year on record for Glacier was 1983, when the park attracted  2,203,847 visitors.

Day visits likely account for most of the overall increased numbers, considering that all types of overnight stays have increased only 1.3 percent during the first 10 months of the year.